Firstly, Versus is not a spin off of XIII. And it's not really surprising that hype has died for a game that has had no real news about it in YEARS. But any new thread on even a rumor (such as this one, or the Versus = FF15 one) gets enough action that there is clearly still interest in the title. No hype when it's a month away from release? That's a problem. No hype now when we know absolutely nothing that we haven't known for years? No problem at all.

I think you're putting the cart before the horse regarding console sales. User base alone does not drive software sales as we've seen time and again, and PS2 was such a beast precisely because of games like FFX. The PS2 had also sold 0 units when work began on that game. Don't forget that much of that $120 million budget (if this rumor is to be believed) is sunk costs. In many ways the best thing for Square's brand right now is to get their shiny new game out on the PS4 early in its life to (a) establish a beachhead for future games and (b) make people forget all about their rather dismal performance this generation. If it's really a game whose qualities evoke the best of the old Final Fantasies, it will sell just as well on the PS4 as on the PS3, if not even better since there will be less competing software. If it's not, then it wouldn't sell so hot on the PS3, either, and they'd be just as fucked.

$120 million means needing to get about 4 million in sales at full retail price. The way FF titles have been selling lately that's just not going to happen, and not as a title released on PS3 early in its life. FFXIII would have made that kind of money back, and then some, for SE, But XIII-2 hasn't got 3 million in sales yet.

I see it that way as well. :) Just trying to put some facts out here before someone else does. lol

I said I don't think this game will be exclusive at all, if it even exists and releases. That's the thing, we don't know a lot of things:

1) Is this rumor true?

2) Is it being supported with Sony money?

3) Is Sony giving enough money to make Square confortable for the release?

4) Is Sony advertising the game?

5) Is the game really taking 120 mil in development costs?

I just expressed my wish. I wish it takes 120 mil in development, I wish it is PS4 exclusive, I wish everything goes well for Square and it earns profit. I wish for a lot of things.

I think you are overestimating the power of Teh Cell and underestimating the power of the 8GB DDR5.

It's a sequel nobody asked for to a game that wasn't all that well received. FF fans aren't clueless the fanbase at least KNOWS what this game is. If Square does a good job with it and it does infact have the magic/quality that most Final Fantasy games are known for, i'm fairly certain it will sell well.

I don't think 1 bad game and an unwanted sequel will ruin one of the longest standing franchises in gaming. If it's a quality game, I think people will be more than happy to buy it.

I don't think it's impossible for them to profit with less than 4 million sold and keep this game exclusive. To sum up my thoughts with another Neogaf post:

The amount of revenue they get differs from publisher to publisher. Square Enix does not have to pay royalties to the studio developing the game because it's being made internally. That's one advantage of that. These guys have been in business for decades now and have solid distribution network set up in most countries. Yes, they need to pay the platform holder some royalties and other costs, but even after that they will get more than $40 per game. Also, at least 30% or more copies will be sold in Japan where the game would cost (after converting) $80-$90, so that would be profitable for them. Final Fantasy XIII, for example, was almost $89. It's a complex thing, really.

Either way, this opens the way up for Versus XIII to remain what it was always meant to be and we get Agni's Philosophy as FFXV and a Durango / PS4 multiplat.

It would be irresponsible close to idiotic to, as a third party, put so much into an exclusive game. So either is not exclusive, doesn't have that much into it or the logic answer, the whole rumour is false.

Everything has an end. Maybe Square is planning to go with a bang.

it could be cross generation PlayStation exclusive!

Don't compare Versus to 13-73. Versus is actually wanted by most fans.

a better question is does it need to profit? sure it cant flop too hard but a minor loss isnt going to hurt them too much if it gives them a good image for future games and a base to work on other games. theyre still profiting from FF11 for god sake and if FF14 does even half as good as that im sure they would have easily recovered any losses from 1 game. hell DQX is out and although its not doing amazingly they have a good steady income coming from those sub fees. then we have FFX and KH HD which would cost a lot less than making a new game and are just easy money for them.